Bad For Business

I'm completely convinced that most companies do not understand how to run a business now. So many companies have training classes on how to provide the best customer service, but it's all a front.

Most companies don't care if you're satisfied or not. They just want to ensure that they're getting money from you on a monthly basis.

That's why cell phone companies, satellite services, etc. force you into a two year contract. Instead of trying to win your loyalty by providing the best service, they entice you with "new customer specials" and then after you sign your soul away, you're just a number for the next 18-24 months. You're no longer eligible for specials. At least not until the last six months of your contract. Then you're their best friend all over again.

Companies like Apple will provide you with a product that requires tons of other proprietary products from them. If you get an iPod, then you need to download iTunes. If you want your iPod to work on your stereo, then you need an iPod docking station. And so on and so on. There are a million i(insert name here) that Apple sells in order to make you dependent on them. Nothing naturally works with Apple. It always requires some additional purchase.

Here's another thing companies will do: instead of trying to just provide a good service, they try to eliminate the competition. Some companies will go as far as offering to buy their competitors just to get rid of them. How sad is that?

"If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em?" That quote doesn't ring a bell with me. AT&T got the hammer dropped on them in the 1983 U.S. v. AT&T anti-trust suit and it forced them to split itself into seven smaller companies. The company had bought almost everyone and was becoming too much of a monopoly. That break-up led to new competition in the long distance market from Sprint to MCI. The verdict of the antitrust suit was ultimately better for the consumer.

Well, after 20 years of purchasing those same companies back and changing names to protect themselves (SBC, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, back to AT&T, etc.), AT&T is back to being the "Death Star" of communication technology. They're basically doing the same thing they did back in 1983, but the difference today is that there are no more people in Congress who care. After all, AT&T gives its fair share of campaign contributions to the Democratic and Republican parties. Sine 1990, they've been reported to have paid an estimated $45 million dollars in campaign contributions (which is $9 million higher than any one else). Congress can't bite the hand that feeds them, right?

Lastly, the smear campaign is something else competitors will do. DirecTV and Dish have argued over who has the most HD channels for almost two years now and every single commercial is misleading. Besides, no one cares who has the most HD channels if a lot of them are pay-per view or simulcasts. An airing of a boxing pay per view event should not count as one of my channels. Instead of nitpicking with one another and suing each other every month for false statements, use that time and money to improve your product.



The bottom line is: corporations don't understand what has made them successful any more. They don't understand that treating your customers and employees right can lead to success in any area of sales.

Stop suckering in the new customers only to treat them like crap after they sign on the dotted line. The same effort you make to get the customer should be made to keep the customer.

Stop sending jobs overseas. By doing so, you're getting bad-mouthed by former employees who now hate your guts. Also, if all companies keep outsourcing overseas, then how do you expect us to pay for whatever it is you sell if we're unemployed back home?

Stop spending so much time trying to expose your competition. These guys are so busy trying to show what the next guy isn't doing that they're failing to improve upon their own product. Corporate competitors are just like Democrats and Republicans; they all love to point out what the other one is/isn't doing about a problem without having a solution to it.

Stop doing these things and maybe we can have some reputable companies in the U.S. again instead of these guys who are bad for business.